The ever-increasing demand of new electronic systems such as telecommunication devices continues to place greater and greater demands on semiconductor devices. Consequently, the electronic industry has discovered that SiGe (silicon germanium) HBT (hetero-junction bipolar-transistors) can provide high-speed operation, low noise and low power consumption devices. In addition, SiGe can also be used with strained-Si channels, which, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, facilitates the excellent performance of CMOS type LSI circuits. Unfortunately, the industry has encountered significant problems in the deposition of epitaxial layers of SiGe over a silicon substrate or wafer surface. This is especially true where the Si substrate is subjected to other harsh semiconductor processes prior to the attempt to deposit an epitaxial layer of SiGe. Therefore, it would be advantageous if the successful growth or deposition of an epitaxial layer of SiGe on the surface of a silicon wafer previously subjected to various semiconductor processes could be achieved.